Weddings etc.

Jul 21, 2008

Last week I was sitting in the internet café down the street from my apartment when music began to pour into the café from the outside. I stepped outside, next to the café window that was rattling from the bass, and saw that the source was across the street. The apartment building directly across from the cafe had streams of colored lights strewn from top to bottom, down all nine stories, and a DJ was testing his sound system next to the building. I asked the owners of the café about the event and they informed me that there was to be a wedding party there.

My roommates and I decided that this was an excellent opportunity for a new cultural experience. That evening I dressed up in the one button down shirt that I brought and by 10:30pm I was ready to go.

Walking up to the wedding the three of us felt a little nervous because, after all, we were technically crashing the wedding. Upon reaching the entrance, however, my apprehensions quickly diminished. The first man with whom I made eye contact quickly stood up, greeted us, and offered us a seat. Between the language barrier and the volume of the music, communicating effectively was out of the question. The great part is that the communication barrier did not matter. Two minutes after sitting down we had drinks in our hands, non-alcoholic of course, since this was an Islamic marriage, and I thought to myself that this would never happen in the states.

Eventually we communicated that we wanted to see the inner courtyard of the wedding (still outdoors) and we were happily shown in. Being the only pale white folk inside, we stood out tremendously, which seemed to be to the amusement of everyone inside. Before I could take in the whole scene I was being dragged by the arm to the middle of the dance floor.

I was placed in front of another man and was apparently expected to have an Egyptian style dance-off with him. The rest of the men stood around us clapping and cheering. Only men were dancing since it would be inappropriate to dance with the women in this culture. After about 20 minutes of dancing someone had managed to duck between my legs without my noticing and I found myself suddenly hoisted up to sit on top of his shoulders. Four of us, all on shoulders, then held hands and danced in circle. The celebration was quite wild.

All eyes were on us, the foreigners, and at first I felt like we were inadvertently stealing the show. I felt that the attention should be on the bride and the groom. One of my roommates later suggested that we were actually honoring the bride and groom by dancing at their party. I can only hope that this was the case and I feel that it was since we received an invitation to the second party the following night.

We had danced an hour before we were able to step out without being pulled in again. By the time it was over my roommate, Eddie, was so soaked in sweat that I would have believed someone if he told me that Eddie just jumped in a swimming pool. Although it was night time, the temperature must have still been in the mid 80’s and the air was humid as well.

Although this was the first wedding party I attended here, every day I see one or more wedding motorcades driving down the street with the drivers honking to their hearts content. This leads to the issue of population in Egypt. This is a place where pre-marital sex is absolutely forbidden, where marriages often take place at a young age, and where multiple children is the norm. Egypt current is home to 78 million people. 33% of the population is under 15 years old and estimates predict 140 million people by 2050 at the current birth rates. Commercials on television here encourage families to limit the number of children but I am unsure whether these have any significant effect on the people's actions. The government seeks to reduce forecasted number to 100 million by 2050.

A couple days after the wedding a small group of us hired a felucca boat, similar to a sailboat, to take us on the Nile for two hours. The experience was blissful. We arrived at sunset and had the chance to relax and see the city from the river both in daylight and at night. When we left the shore the temperature dropped to a level that felt perfect and a slight breeze picked up. It was the first time in Cairo that I wasn’t sweating. On the river we were even spared from the overwhelming honking of the roads. We had also prepared a dinner of rice, vegetables and chicken smothered in spices, local cheese, and pita bread to scoop everything with, which we ate on the bow of the boat. A felucca ride is a terrific refuge from the intensity of Cairo and is an absolute must for anyone visiting. And what was the price for two hours? $20 to split amongst five people.

One of my favorite parts of my daily routine is picking up lunch on the walk home from the language institute. I stop at the same places every day and order pita “sandwhiches” filled with various combinations of local and middle eastern foods such as falafel, boiled egg and fuul (essentially refried beans with some extra oil), shakshuka (a type of tomatoe stew), salad, tehini, eggplant, and potatoes. Before that I stop at the juice bar next door and pick up some fresh sugar-cane juice. The price for all of lunch? About 80 cents.

You notice that the price of food and entertainment here is miniscule by American standards. This reflects on the level of poverty in Egypt with the majority of the population earning a salary of ~ $70-$100/month. While it is true that food is less expensive here than in the states, by no means is the price sufficient to enable the average person to live comfortably. Life in Cairo is a serious struggle for the majority of the population.

Frustration is increasing as the price of food increases. I spoke with the son of my landlord, Osama, or Sam, the other day and he expressed his frustration with the government and President Mubarak who has ruled Egypt since 1981. Sam explained that the price of gas fluctuates severely day to day and pointed to his can of coke asking rhetorically, “Why was this can 2 pounds ($1 ~ 5.3 Egyptian pounds) yesterday and 2.5 pounds today? The government offers no explanation.” You may have heard about food riots taking place in Egypt recently. I have not seen these riots but I see that poverty is a very significant and troubling issue here.

It is time for me to go home and study Arabic. That is all for now.

Danny